BAYWATCH Review & Analysis

I’ve long been a proponent of the Popcorn Flick. There’s something to be said for a couple of hours of brainless entertainment. After all, that’s the very premise of “guilty pleasure” tv shows like The Bachelorette.

So, it was with that mindset that I settled into my seat for Baywatch starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Priyanka Chopra. There could be no better truth in advertising than what the trailer promised and the full-length feature delivered. The movie is saturated with the anticipated raunchy jokes–though they weren’t quite as over-the-top as expected from the post-American Pie generation. The movie’s self-aware humor addresses everything from Efron’s looks to Chopra’s potential as a future Bond girl.

Baywatch delivers exactly as predicted. Sure, the set ups are obvious and the jokes hit on the same note a few too many times. This movie, like the long-running tv show which inspired it, isn’t academic and there are just as many manly muscles as — ahem, feminine curves.

The actors commit to Baywatch with acting gusto, a significant element in selling a movie in which Johnson and Efron must believably carry two full-sized refrigerators on their backs. Their commitment to this silliness sells the concept and the entirety of the movie itself.